Living in Grand Cayman

On Saturday, my mother flew in from Montreal. I cant blame her! Believe it or not, Montreal has beaten most snow records this winter. So far (winter is not over …) they have received a whopping 500+ cm (thats over 5.4 yards for any Americans or Brits reading this).

The weather has been very cloudy since she got here. However, on sunday we decided to go for a drive around the east end and had a great time.

Here she is near a rocky ledge. If anyone ever wondered why I am so skinny, I can only say : do you have any more questions? 😉

Our very own Loch Ness Cayman monster can be seen at east end village. Actually we are not really sure what it is. I suspect its an old ship anchor. Julie thinks its a lamppost of some sort. Who knows … and who cares anyway.

Mother getting wet near the largest of the blowholes along the south shore of the island.

We stopped in front of this store to take a picture. Two funny things here. First thing, “Buy one Jerk, get one free”.  🙂 Secondly, we liked the fact that this guy was so honest, that he called his store “The tourist trap”. At least when you walk into this store, you know what you are getting into.

For the third year in a row, I am in Los Angeles for a week at a client.  I must admit, I do like LA a lot!  I would not live here though ; I prefer Cayman for that.  I always have a rental car when I come here and get to drive around and see some sights!  Speaking of driving around, I had a Dodge Charger as a rental; not my type of car but had a “bad ass” look to it!

Here at Griffith Park in Hollywood, a friendly fox was crossing the road.

An excellent view of the Hollywood sign.

Great view of the LA skyscrapers.

Another view … notice the haze from the smog. 🙁

Hollywood Boulevard … the walk of fame. 

The theater that everyone has seen in picture before. Well, here is another one! 🙂

I fly back saturday to Cayman … cant wait to get back to Julie & the pets.

(Note: I made another post just 2 days ago. See below)

Our visitors leave on Sunday, so on Saturday we took them for our favorite activity on Grand Cayman ; Stingray City! The boat ride takes us to three destinations in the North Sound : Stingray City, the barrier reef and a place called “Coral Gardens”. Its a 3-hour tour. Anyone who visits us can be sure we will take them on this tour.

Here is a Stingray passing right next to the boat as we arrive at Stingray City.

Here Genevieve and I are playing with a friendly stingray.

These are extremely gentle animals. Its a true privilege to be able to handle them in this manner, making sure to keep them in the water at all times. Their underside is as smooth as silk and not slimy at all. As you can see, any concerns about them being dangerous are totally overblown! Just to be clear, these stingrays are wild and I am not in an “stingray tank” of any sort. Stingray City is simply a shallow sand bar about 2 miles offshore. They are of course tame because people have been feeding them for years, but they are still 100% wild and must be handled with care. Do I look happy or what? 🙂

Here I am snorkeling at the barrier reef. Fantastic sea life to be seen here in this crystal clear water. Not to mention a perfect temperature to snorkel for as long as you want.

A final picture when departing back to land. Definitely a fantastic day with our guests and another brilliant day here in Grand Cayman Island.

A final note. I have implemented a post notification function. If you sign up (click on “register” on the right) you will automatically receive an email each time I make a new post. I promise not to send you any spam or any other message ; I dislike spam as much as you!

This week have have our first repeat visitor.  Julie’s friend Genevieve liked her visit last year so much (she was our 1st guest after we moved here) that she has come to visit us once again and even brought her mother with here this time.  She does not seem to miss the crazy amount of snow they are getting this year in Montreal. I for one don’t miss it one bit.

They have had nothing but spectacular weather every day so far!

Here are some pictures from Rum Point on the week-end

We now have a turtle dove nest right outside our dining room window.  Hope we get to see the little ones soon.

Finally, here is Genevieve and her mom at Smith Cove. A great place to snorkel and take it easy.  Its also a popular spot for locals, unlike Rum Point which is mostly for tourists & expats.